Julio Garcia

Guided by his proficient background in printmaking, Cuban born artist Julio Garcia is influenced and driven by the methods and evolution of this ancestral art. His work merges traditional mark-making techniques found in etchings and engravings with experimental processes using a variety of synthetic materials.

Garcia received a B.F.A. in painting as well as a minor in printmaking from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 1999. Following graduation, he worked under Master Printmaker Mitchell Bryant. Garcia has received contributions from NAZDAR International for his exploration of the company’s screen-printing chemicals. In 2000 he was awarded a printmaking residency to the Vermont Studio Center. The YUPO Corporation awarded him a grant in 2002 which gave him access to the company’s immense selection of synthetic papers. Garcia has been published in New American Paintings as well as numerous other national publications. His work was added to the permanent collection of Savannah’s Telfair Museum of Art in 2006. In addition, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia featured his work in the exhibition “Within State Lines.” In 2007, they selected him as one of the Young Movers and Shakers of the Georgia Art Scene. In April of 2007, Garcia was honored to participate in the Visiting Artist program at the University of Florida where students had the unique opportunity to collaborate with Garcia on a series of his prints that were then published through the Alagarto Press. He currently lives and works in Savannah, Georgia.

Although Garcia’s works mindfully examine a variety of themes, both environmental and social, they are, at their core, responses to his surroundings – observations made of our modern-day context. Landscape is a reoccurring focus in his work. He explores the relationship between the natural and man-made environments and how developed areas, Sprawl – even highways have altered the face of modern landscapes. His works are characterized by a sense of permanence. His methods, by the very nature of their technique, are permanent, even unforgiving. You can physically see how the works were created, and the blemishes, a smudge of ink – a line carved past its mark – only serve to tell their piece of the story. As a result, his work embodies such an openness.

Garcia has said tha t, for the most part, he considers all of his work to be a study. Because of this, there is somewhat of a compelling, on-going movement about his work as his series tend to overlap.